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“I think there’s some kind of problem, yes.”

“So, we’re on a wild goose chase?One we can’t win, even if we reach her?”The thought was so horrible that my brain skittered away from it immediately.Because, in that case, what the hell were we even doing?

“I think…” he paused for a moment.“I think Rhea knows you’re coming.She is not only Pythia but a powerful clairvoyant in her own right.And your return is the biggest thing that has happened on Earth since the gods arrived.She has to know you’re here.

“Perhaps she’s waiting for you.”

I felt a surge of hope, followed immediately by a wave of pure frustration.I wanted to hear her voice, to pick up the phone and call her, to ask what the hell had happened and where we had gone so incredibly wrong.But given the state of the world, I somehow doubted the phones were still working!

Or much of anything else.

“We have to get to her,” I said.“No matter how hard it is.”It was what Faerie, the goddess who had held on for fifty years in the crumbling remains of her world, had told us.And while she hadn’t been able to see much lately, being locked in her realm and slowly having the life sapped out of her, it was still our best plan.

Hang on, Rhea, I thought fervently; I’m coming.

I just had no idea how.

“We’ll find a way,” Pritkin said, causing me to tear up because he never wavered.Even when everything was as screwed up as it possibly could be, and the whole world was against us, he was a rock.

Or he did a damned good job of faking it.

I felt my eyes overflow and ducked my head into the spray to hide it.But he saw and traced the line of a single tear with his thumb while cradling my cheek in his palm.Which wasn’t good because Pythias didn’t cry, at least not where anyone could see.

“We’re not done yet,” I said hoarsely and pushed him back to his knees, determined to finish what I’d started.

“My skin is going pruney,” he objected.

“You’ll live.And where are we?”I asked, changing the subject as I lathered up that awful, awful hair.

“The Sahara.The Circle established a new HQ here decades ago after losing the old one.Faheem, one of the local mages, told me on the way in.”

“If they’re settled here, then why were they in Stratford?Why was Jonas?”

“That’s what I intend to ask him after he’s had time to recover.We didn’t get much chance to talk.”

No, I didn’t guess so.And he didn’t look like he wanted to do any more of that now.I could relate.

Sometimes, a good conversation helped to clear the air, but sometimes, a lot of times lately, it just made things feel even more overwhelming.Like if I had another piece of information or another world-ending decision to make, I was going to end, too.Just break apart into pieces and crumble away like the dried mud down the drain.

I couldn’t handle whatever the Circle had going on or the fact that we were on the other side of the world from where we needed to be.I didn’t want to think about our next step or whether we even had one.I didn’t want to think at all.

I was just profoundly, ridiculously grateful to be here, to have Pritkin alive and well and here, too, and to have our little band together.This world felt like a never-ending nightmare, and this little cubbyhole of a shower was a tiny slice of heaven that had somehow intruded.And he seemed to feel the same.

The hands that had been gripping my hips suddenly slid further back and clenched as if he’d never let me go.And the face, now cleared of mud along with his hair, had released some of the stress that had been carving new grooves into its already craggy surface.Instead, something else had taken over his expression, which was why I was only half surprised to be pushed back against the tiles.

“Pritkin, we need to—” I began and then promptly forgot what I’d been about to say.Something along the lines of “lock the door,” if it even had a lock, but the words never made it as far as my lips.

Because he hadn’t gotten off his knees.

And it didn’t take him long to prove that even without his other half, he was still prince of the goddamned incubi.I found myself clutching the sides of the little shower, trying to think straight enough to point out that...that...that...something.Only I could no longer remember what.

“Um,” I said right before my eyes rolled back into my head, my tongue tangled up, and I forgot how to English.Or to speak any other language except this one, the universal one, the ohs and ahs and little moans that directed my partner better than anything I could have said anyway.

And he spoke to me, too, with an urgency unlike his usual thorough exploration, with hands clenched and jaw tight even as he pleasured me.It told me more than words that he hadn’t been sure we’d make it this far, and he didn’t know what tomorrow held.Or if there would be a tomorrow, which at the rate...things were going...was a real...“Ahhhh!”

Pleasure broke over my head harder than the pounding spray and filled me up with a languorous warmth that drove every thought from my mind.Except this one, I decided, kneeling down to kiss him.And then to push him upright so I could climb him, could find a seat on the perch his body had thoughtfully made for me, could take him deep inside and groan into his mouth at how good that felt, how needed, howright.

I wanted to rake my nails down his back, but didn’t dare because of the state of him, of both of us.We were covered in bruises and bloody welts that were starting to bleed again now that the crust of dirt had been removed, leaving us a runny, red mess that the water was fighting with.And it probably wouldn’t be the last time if the past was anything to go on.And there were people waiting for us and explanations to get and problems to face, and right then, I didn’t care about any of them!